Over the years, guitarist/vocalist/saxophonist/all-around-instrumentalist Edgar Winter has had a legacy that nearly any and all mid-range rock artists would hope to have: a few monster, still-played-on-the-radio-to-this-day hits (“Frankenstein” and “Free Ride” chief among them), a series of older, pleasing blues hits (“Tobacco Road”, with that incredible sustained yell at the end), and a discography meant to be consumed and dissected by only the most hardcore of acolytes, up to and including his work under a horn ensemble he assembled called White Trash. Although sometimes his blues-rock and pop-oriented singles were straightforward, that voice, those horns, and that flowing white hair always signified how Winter remained one of the most idiosyncratic pop stars of the ’70s.
As such, The Definitive Collection takes great efforts to improve on greatest hits packages of yore by putting literally everything in one place, going through his discography in chronological order and cherry-picking hits and quirks along the way, doing what it can to best concise packages like 1986’s Collection and even 2014’s label grabbag Playlist: The Very Best of Edgar Winter. The Definitive Collection is designed as something that probes far beyond the reaches of a mere hits comp, delving into Winter’s madness and merriment with equal fervor, leaving no stone unturned—mostly.
Before diving into what is included here, it’s important to note what isn’t. “Hangin’ Around”, the opening track to his 1972 smash They Only Come Out at Night and one if its singles, is nowhere to be found here. The same goes for expected wonders like “Catching Up”, his Otis Redding cover “I Can’t Turn You Loose”, “Now is the Time”, “Tell Me in a Whisper”, “Cool Fool”, “Miracle of Love”, the fan favorite “Diamond Eyes”, “Save the Planet”, “Fire and Ice”, “People Music”, “Above & Beyond”, “Love is Everywhere”, and “Turn on Your Lovelight” to name just a few.
The rest, as Bill Kopp’s straightforward liner notes indicate, is done in strict chronological order, from Winter’s 1970 debut Entrance (the title track of which remains a joyous psych-pop comedown), all the way to the by-the-numbers yet enjoyable pop of “Tomorrowland”, the closer to 1981’s all-but-forgotten Standing on Rock. At times, some true gems can be found, like the forward-thinking AM guitar slinger “Keep on Burnin'” and the true heir to the “Frankenstein” instrumental-rock throne, “Chainsaw”.
While the switching between throwback psych numbers and horn-driven efforts and unabashed pop moments help give Definitive Collection‘s first disc a great breadth of genre and style, the set’s second disc is a bit more straightforward, opening with “Frankenstein” and showing how as Winter’s successes grew, he became less adventurous in his songwriting, even though the quality of his songs rarely wobbled (if it ain’t broke…). The horn fills on “Good Shot” imbue what would be a passable white funk affair in the hands of others with some real feeling (Winter’s excited singing of “Yeah-eah-eah!” at the midpoint don’t hurt either), but by the time we get to the same kind of thing on “Solar Strut”, it’s clear that as time wore on, Winter became a craftsman, good at cranking out standalone moments on a bevy of albums but failing to delivery anything truly consistent. Even his live shows, fun as they were, became adherent to formula, his live “Rock & Roll Medley” sounding more Meat Loaf than Edgar Winter.
That being said, there are still classics and wonderful moments to be found all around, “Alta Mira” walking along with a Paul Simon-styled breeziness that Winter would rarely revisit, and “Fly Away” highlighting one of the special moments when Winter headed for the soulful, crafting a ballad that, despite its generic sentiment, still shines all its own with the forceful inclusion of a gospel choir halfwy through.
Added together, there are other compilations that have all of Winter’s “hits” in one place, but The Definitive Collection features the big singles, the lost classics, and so many more facets to the Edgar Winter tale that time has mostly forgotten. A worthy purchase for those even remotely inclined.